Yossi Kvashna of Kibbutz Kinneret can tell you how a surprise party turned into a year-and-a-half-long hike. “I always dreamed of walking the entire length of Israel. But I had no idea how to do it. Then I met Dany Gaspar at a surprise party and he told me about his ‘baby’ - the Israel National Trail.”

With typical Israeli energy, the 55-year-old Kvashna made some phone calls, assembling 10 old friends and making plans for the weekend. Or rather, for every weekend for the next year and a half: at about 30 miles a weekend, they were going to cover the entire country by hiking along the Israel National Trail. Kvashna says the sites they visited were fascinating, but the main thing was “the fact that we did it. We accomplished something great.”

Dany Gaspar, coordinator of the Israel Trails Committee, defines himself as “the only person in the world to have completed the Israel Trail three times.” He relates that the first time he took the trail, together with a group of young people looking for a challenge just before their induction to the IDF; they tore through 531-mile-long trail in 20 days.

Hila Turgeman, 22, a special education student in Tel Aviv, did the trail from north to south at a calmer pace with three women friends, completing it in about 45 days. Turgeman says her own favorite experience was meeting the wonderful people at the various places at which they stopped, in tiny communities where even strangers hosted them for everything from a cup of coffee to a good night’s sleep.  

Though God did tell Abraham to “walk through the length and breadth of the land” (Gen. 13:17), Abraham didn’t have the luxury of the Israel National Trail. The idea for the trail, says Ori Devir, chairman of the Israel National Trail Committee, was born only about 15 years ago, in the mind of an Israeli children’s book writer, Avraham Tamir. At the age of 78, Tamir hiked the Appalachian Trail and came home eager to adopt the idea in Israel. Approaching Devir was a natural step. Devir, 71, perhaps Israel’s best-known travel writer, guide, and nature activist, who knows Israel like most people don’t know the backs of their hands, gave his blessing to the project and off it went.

But before the 531-mile-long trail could become a reality, it first had to make its way through Israeli bureaucracy, around army training grounds, and past worried owners of the occasional orchard or field. The rumor mill was another obstacle in the early days of the trail. In a country where everybody knows everybody, says Devir, “people were calling me to complain that they had heard the trail did or didn’t go to this site or that, even before we knew ourselves!”

Even though there’s no comparing the length of the Israel National Trail with the 2,000-mile Appalachian Trail, Devir readily admits that Israel’s small size makes it, “to the best of my knowledge, the only country in the world to have a trail that goes from one end of the country to the other.”

The Israel National Trail stands out for another reason: it comes within visiting distance of two of the world’s most famous cities - Jerusalem and Nazareth. Devir says that the designers of the trail made sure it would take in the most important sacred places to Jews, Christians, Druse, and Muslims.

An additional unique aspect of the trail, notes Devir, is its contrasts. “You can see Mediterranean vegetation on top of Mount Meron, and the next day see bananas growing on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.” The “veins and arteries” of the Israel National Trail  - 6,000 miles of them - branch out all over the country, making it possible to tailor a trip to suit every challenge and desire.

The trail is now completely signposted and marked on the maps, but there are other goals still to be achieved. Among them is the adaptation of a parallel trail for use by mountain bikes, a project that is already 75% completed, reports the Carmel Mountain Bike Club. Another goal is to increase the number of sites where overnight camping facilities are available.

There are also plans to produce trail maps in English. But Devir promises that any English-speaking visitor who wants more information about taking the Israel National Trail will receive full assistance from the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, a very active member of the Israel Trails Committee.